The Opening Faceoff The No. 2/2 Harvard men's hockey team will host Yale in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals this weekend with a trip to Lake Placid on the line. The winner of the best-of-three series will advance to the semifinals played at the 1980 Rink at the Herb Brooks Arena. Each game of the series will start at 7 p.m. and be broadcast live on ECACHockey.com.

The First Line • Harvard is pursuing its third consecutive trip to Lake Placid and the ECAC semifinals. The Crimson won the title in 2015 and lost in the finals a year ago. Harvard has won nine ECAC Tournament titles, including two under head coach Ted Donato in 2006 and 2015.

• Harvard and Yale last met in the ECAC playoffs in the 2015 quarterfinals. The series went the full three games and needed double overtime in the final matchup before Jimmy Vesey '16 scored the series-clincher, capping the longest game in Harvard history (96:46).

• A series victory for the Crimson would give head coach Ted Donato '91 the two wins he needs to reach 200 for his career. Donato would become the third Harvard coach to reach 200 wins during their career, joining Bill Cleary, Jr. (324) and Ralph "Cooney" Weiland (315). Donato has a 198-185-48 record during his 13 years at the helm of the Crimson.

• Harvard is 1-0-1 against Yale this season. In the first matchup, goaltenders Merrick Madsen and Patrick Spano stood tall, playing to a 1-1 tie with the two netminders sharing the Tim Taylor Trophy as the MVP of the H-Y game in Cambridge. In the second meeting in New Haven, Tyler Moy scored twice, leading Harvard to a 4-2 win.

Last Time Out Harvard had last weekend off, after earning a bye through the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs as the top seed in the conference. The Crimson ended the regular season on a 10-game win streak and a 12-game unbeaten streak (11-0-1) that dates back to Jan. 20. Harvard capped the regular season with a 6-3 victory over St. Lawrence on Senior Night. The win, coupled with a Union tie, earned Harvard a share of the ECAC Hockey regular season title for the first time since 1993-94.

Scouting Yale Yale, the eighth-seed in the ECAC playoffs, earned its spot in the quarterfinals with a sweep of Dartmouth in the first round. The Bulldogs posted winning scores of 6-1 and 3-2 to improve to 13-13-5 overall this season. The series win snapped a tough stretch for the Bulldogs, as it went 1-6-1 during the month of February.

20 Wins With its win over Brown, Harvard went over the 20-win plateau for a season for the 17th time in program history. It is only the second 20-win season in the last 10 years for Harvard as it had 21 in 2014-15. Its 22 wins matches its most since 2002-03. Prior to that season, Harvard's most wins was 24 during the 1993-94 season.

Uncommon Feeling Harvard leads the nation in team winning percentage at .793 with a record of 22-5-2. Its five losses are the fewest in Division I hockey this season and fewest since 1993-94. Harvard is riding a 12-game unbeaten streak dating back to a Jan. 20 win over Brown. Its last loss was Jan. 17 versus Dartmouth.

Ancient Eight's Best Harvard took home all three major awards distributed by the Ivy League March 2. Sophomore Ryan Donato was named the Player of the Year, Adam Fox was selected Rookie of the Year and Ted Donato earned Coach of the Year honors.

Ryan Donato is the 12th Harvard skater to earn Player of the Year, with Harvard earning the honor each of the last three seasons (Jimmy Vesey '16 - 2015, 2016). Fox is the 14th skater to earn Rookie accolades and Ted Donato is the first Harvard leader to earn Coach of the Year honors.

Tim Taylor Finalist Ted Donato '91, The Robert D. Ziff '88 Head Coach for Harvard Men's Ice Hockey, has been named a finalist for the Tim Taylor Coach of the Year Award of ECAC Hockey, as announced by the league Wednesday, March 8.

Donato was joined on the finalist list by Union's Rick Bennett and Princeton's Ron Fogarty.

February's Stars Sparking Harvard to an 8-0 record during the month of February, goaltender Merrick Madsen and forward Ryan Donato received monthly awards from ECAC Hockey.

Madsen, who has started every game this year for Harvard, earned all eight wins, while posting a 2.09 GAA and .920 save percentage during February.

Donato led the conference with 15 points in February and finished just two points shy of the nation's lead for points during the month. The Scituate, Massachusetts native has a knack for scoring in bunches, as he had three games during the month in which he recorded four points.

Senior Statement The class of 2017 has amassed 72 wins during its career, the most for a senior group since the class of 2008 notched 73. The class of 2006 has the most wins in the last 20 years with 82.

Blanking Brown For the first time in the 119-year history of the Harvard-Brown series, the Crimson swept a season series with the Bears via shutout. Harvard defeated Brown 3-0 at home and 6-0 on the road this year. Last season, Harvard shut out Rensselaer twice, beating them 4-0 at the Shillelagh Tournament and tying them 0-0. The last time Harvard earned two shutout wins over the same team in one season was 1958-59 against Cornell. Harvard beat the Big Red 18-0 and 13-0.

Ivy Back-To-Back Harvard earned the Ivy League title for the second-straight season, racking up 17 points in 10 games against the Ancient Eight. Harvard earned consecutive titles for the first time since 1993-1994. It's 8-1-1 record was also its best since going 9-0-1 during the 93-94 campaign.

Six or More For the third season in a row, Harvard has scored at least six goals in five games. Harvard has scored six or more goals seven times this season, its most since lighting up the scoreboard for at least six goals nine times in 2002-03.

Fox Hole Freshman Adam Fox has made a name for himself on the Harvard blue line. The Jericho, New York native, and Calgary Flames prospect leads the team with 27 assists. His 1.14 points per game mark ranks first among all defensemen in the country and fifth among all rookies. It is also a statistic that places Fox among the top-20 all-time of U19 defensemen in Division-I history. His 22 points in conference games leads all defensemen and is second among all freshmen.

Shots Opposing goaltenders can expect to see a lot of Ryan Donato on a nightly basis. The sophomore forward is second in the country with a 4.90 shots per game average. He ripped off a season-high 13 shots during his four-goal showing against Union Feb. 10. That number was the highest since Jimmy Vesey '16 had 13 against Rensselaer Feb. 12, 2016.

Harvard as a team ranks sixth in the nation in shots on goal per game at 34.45. That number ranks third in the ECAC behind Quinnipiac (35.78) and Princeton (35.11).

1-2-3-4 Sophomore Ryan Donato became the first Harvard skater since Connor Morrison on Nov. 24, 2009 to score four goals in a game. Donato scored the first two goals and the last two goals of a 6-2 triumph over Union Feb. 10, 2017 at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center. It marked the second hat trick of his career, with both coming against Union (Feb. 13, 2016). Four times this season Donato has had four points in a single game.

Short-handed Success Harvard has tallied 11 short-handed goals this season, leading the nation. Harvard's most recent short-handed goal came from Luke Esposito in the third period of a 4-1 win vs. Clarkson Feb. 24.

Twice this season, Harvard has netted two man-down goals in the same game. The first came in the season-opener at Arizona by Ryan Donato and John Marino. On Dec. 3, Donato and Sean Malone both scored short-handed goals on an empty net at Clarkson.

Prior to this season, the last time Harvard scored twice a man down in a single game was Jan. 4, 2014 in a 7-4 win versus Boston University. Malone accounted for both goals.

Horton's HotJake Horton had the hottest scoring stretch of his career from Jan. 27 - Feb. 3. The junior scored a goal in three-straight games, leading the Crimson to conference wins over Cornell, Colgate and Dartmouth. It marked the longest goal streak of his career. The junior has set new career-highs with six goals and seven points this season.

Stat Sheet Success Harvard is yet to lose a game this season when either Ryan Donato or Jake Horton scores, dishes an assist or has a plus rating in a game. When Donato Has a: Goal: 11-0-0; Assist: 9-0-0; Plus: 12-0-0When Horton Has a: Goal: 6-0-0; Assist: 7-0-0; Plus: 9-0-0

Hobey Candidates One year after Jimmy Vesey '16 won the 2016 Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's best player, the Crimson has three new candidates for the 2017 season. Seniors Alexander Kerfoot and Sean Malone, as well as freshman Adam Fox, have each been named a candidate this year. Fan voting is open on the Hobey Baker fan page through February.

CLASS
Senior co-captain Alexander Kerfoot has been selected as one of the 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for men's collegiate hockey. Kerfoot was selected as a nominee in January and named a finalist mid-February. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

Scoring Offense Harvard ranks third in the nation in scoring. The Crimson is averaging 4.17 goals each time out. Harvard has scored at least five goals in 14 games this season. Last season, Harvard averaged 3.41 goals per game which was its best mark since posting 3.91 in 2002-03.